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Notify and Walk

I just caught a bit on the news about Armitage’s “Notify and Walk” suggestion. Hey, for a former Bush official and someone who loves to gossip about the secret identities of CIA spies, he’s got a point.

Earlier this week, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage suggested a gradual reduction of U.S. troops, perhaps at a rate of about 5 percent every few months.

“We can’t win on the battlefield,” said Armitage, who served throughout Bush’s first term. “The problem is that this is now a political struggle being carried out amid chaos, and we can’t wish stability on the Iraqis. They have to be willing to fight for it.”

Asked if he thought that staying the course remains an option, Armitage replied: “If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, then clearly it isn’t. The problem is that you can change tactics in an hour, but it takes time to change strategy, and it’s too late for that now.” (The Mercury News)

What’s this, a beginning acceptance that our strategy in Iraq is insanity? Isn’t this the exact strategy that I’ve been suggesting for a year now? Ad hominem be damned, finally someone is seeing the light. The only wish I have is that we dramatically increase our social and political work while turning our battle strategy into a true peacekeeping mission. But as he said, it could be too late for that now. What ever happened to “winning the hearts and minds?”

President Bush says that “America will stay, we will fight, and we will win in Iraq.” Do you think he’ll ever realize that the second part is preventing the third part?